India telecom company to take on BlackBerry with Bharat Berry

BlackBerry news from India heats up as Indian telecom operator, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), has launched a alternative to BlackBerry services last Friday. The service, Bharat Berry, takes the stage as a less expensive and more accessible replacement option for those BlackBerry users who are under the threat of BlackBerry services being cut off by the India government. Features of the service include:

This means that the Bharat Berry service will allow users to have their emails pushed to their device, as well as on the go synchronization of calendar and contacts for multiple mail accounts. The service has been "tested on several entry-level handsets," according to Dr Ajay Data, director, Bharat Berry Technologies.

Executive Director (Wireless Services), MTNL, AK Bhargava said:

BharatBerry is an Indian compliant Product made by Bharat Berry technologies in India keeping in consideration all necessary India laws; the necessary approval from all respective agencies have been received before launching this service for Delhi GSM subscribers. While the services offered by other providers are handset-based, Bharat Berry service can run on any Java-enabled normal GPRS-enabled handset like Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Blackberry, HTC, etc and ensures that you remain connected to your email, calendar and contacts through the servers hosted in India.

The cost of the Bharat Berry monthly subscription rate will be Rs 80 (about $1.77) to use along with any standard data plan.